Energy productivity is crucial for sustainable development.We use cointegration analyses to investigate the effect<br /> of electricity on energy productivity in Swedish industry from 1930 to 1990. Electricity augmented energy<br /> productivity in those industrial branches that used electricity formultiple purposes. This productivity effect goes<br /> beyond “book-keeping effects,” i. e. it is not only the result of electricity being produced in one sector (taking the<br /> energy transformation losses) and consumed in another (receiving the benefits).

The paper specifies a quantitative methodology for exploring development blocks. The concept of &#39;development block&#39; was a major contribution to the historical analysis of industrial transformation by the late Erik Dahmen, but development blocks have mainly been analyzed by qualitative methods and indirect indicators and not statistically identified. In this paper, development blocks are identified by means of a combination of co-integration analysis and Granger causality. Using these techniques, we are able to identify two partially overlapping development blocks in the Swedish economy, formed around the electricity generating sector: one with metal, metal goods, machinery and railways; and another with pulp and paper, chemicals, and machinery.

Electricity has been regarded as a typical example of a general purpose technology and important for the surge both in energy productivity and overall productivity in the American economy in the 1920s. This view was challenged by Nicholas and Moser (2004) based on patent statistics. We argue that other methods are required for studying productivity effects and propose cointegration analyses. We demonstrate a clear impact from electrification on energy productivity in those broad Swedish industrial branches that used electricity for multiple uses. This effect goes beyond mere book-keeping effects and indicates the existence of dynamic effects.